Editing 2159: Comments
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
| β | This comic represents a news article that bemoans how sometimes lazy journalists will, instead of taking time to research the genuine public opinion on a certain issue, simply cherry pick comments as evidence to support their thesis. The irony is that the article is likely basing its own narrative of outrage among Internet users on random comments as well. For example, an [https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1129773341894688769 anonymous Twitter account from Northern Ireland with 159 followers] | + | This comic represents a news article that bemoans how sometimes lazy journalists will, instead of taking time to research the genuine public opinion on a certain issue, simply cherry pick comments as evidence to support their thesis. The irony is that the article is likely basing its own narrative of outrage among Internet users on random comments as well. For example, an [https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1129773341894688769 anonymous Twitter account from Northern Ireland with 159 followers] gets used as [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/17/opinion/biden-2020-millennials.html an example in the first paragraph of a NY Times article] about how U.S. Millennials think. |
The commenters create the narrative here, by pointing out how easy it is for commenters to push a point of view, and how little editorial control or fact checking there is in such a process. The final commenter reveals that the article itself is cherry picking from a handful of random comments to support its arbitrary narrative of internet outrage, proving the real joke. | The commenters create the narrative here, by pointing out how easy it is for commenters to push a point of view, and how little editorial control or fact checking there is in such a process. The final commenter reveals that the article itself is cherry picking from a handful of random comments to support its arbitrary narrative of internet outrage, proving the real joke. | ||
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The link in one of the comments is to [[1019: First Post]], which also refers to manipulating comments to change public opinion of a topic. It specifically mentions "creating an impression of peer consensus", a line which is near-quoted in the first comment included in this comic. | The link in one of the comments is to [[1019: First Post]], which also refers to manipulating comments to change public opinion of a topic. It specifically mentions "creating an impression of peer consensus", a line which is near-quoted in the first comment included in this comic. | ||
| β | Another comment mentions a {{w|NPR|National Public Radio}} ("NPR") decision to remove comments from their website [https://www.npr.org/sections/publiceditor/2016/08/17/489516952/npr-website-to-get-rid-of-comments?t=1559838474662 | + | Another comment mentions a {{w|NPR|National Public Radio}} ("NPR") decision to remove comments from their website in 2016 [https://www.npr.org/sections/publiceditor/2016/08/17/489516952/npr-website-to-get-rid-of-comments?t=1559838474662] because they represented only a tiny fraction of their readers. The statement released by NPR suggested they had decided to use social media channels to engage readers instead of using an on-site commenting system. |
The last of the comments may be from the user "Mary" who, in the NPR article, was explicitly cited to have said that the comments have been too violent. But it is unclear how this is possible given that this article claims to have been published after the comments having been turned off. This may also be a reference to [[1303: Profile Info]], as both of the characters would decrease the efficiency of the ad/article by being chosen as a quote. | The last of the comments may be from the user "Mary" who, in the NPR article, was explicitly cited to have said that the comments have been too violent. But it is unclear how this is possible given that this article claims to have been published after the comments having been turned off. This may also be a reference to [[1303: Profile Info]], as both of the characters would decrease the efficiency of the ad/article by being chosen as a quote. | ||
